Amoore wrote:With respect, price is a key issue for most independents and if stocking a set range of products means greater incentives financially, it is going to be a serious consideration. I'm not saying it's the only consideration - any of the main breweries' core lines are generally the biggest sellers so it makes sense to stock them too. Carling for instance is the biggest seller in the UK, no matter what you may think about it.

And when you talk about having to have "a few core products", generally those few products would take up the average amount of lines available in a small bar or club, with little room for extras without considerable investment. This is one of the reason Brains Bitter was squeezed out of so many Brains pubs. Because Heineken's preferred bitter was John Smiths.

I lived in Yorkshire for fifteen years and John Smiths is despised even up there. I’m no fan of Brains bitter but it is head(!} and shoulders above John Smiths. A quick search of beer rating sites shows that it is not a popular pint with the hopheads. I remember trying Timothy Taylor’s Landlord for the first time, in a pub on Oak Lane in Bradford, in the late 80s. What a revelation! The only decent bitters I’d drunk up to that point were Higson’s, Hancock’s, Boddies and Wards. Stones, Sam Smith’s, Walkers, Brains and Tetley’s were all a bit meh while John Smith’s was definitely bleurgh. I hadn’t tried any of the southern bitters (or Bass) at that stage but my revulsion for John Smith’s remains to this day.

John Smiths is a prime example of style over substance. Their advertising during the 90s saw it rise from sixteenth to fourth highest selling beer in the UK and the highest selling ale brand in the world. The Peter Kay campaign of the 00s cemented this further. It's ironic (but apt) that Peter Kay is a tee-totaller!

Amoore wrote:John Smiths is a prime example of style over substance. Their advertising during the 90s saw it rise from sixteenth to fourth highest selling beer in the UK and the highest selling ale brand in the world. The Peter Kay campaign of the 00s cemented this further. It's ironic (but apt) that Peter Kay is a tee-totaller!

Is it listed? Locally if not nationally? It's certainly in a conservation area. Just looked at Paul's Cardiff Decekopments page on Flickr and they've put a SOLID METAL SHUTTER on the front as if it's a fckgign shite newsagents in a back street??????